Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Lowest Reported Attacks and Casualties In Iraq Sep 2015 Due To Eid Holiday

September had the lowest recorded number of attacks and
casualties in Iraq of the year. The cause was the Eid holiday, which occurred
at the end of the month. The government deployed extra forces to the streets
that definitely reduced violence in major cities. The main reason for the drop
however was the fact that many of Iraq’s papers went on holiday for almost a
week and therefore there was a huge drop in reporting on the fighting.

In September there were 573 security incidents. That passed
the previous low in 2015 of 578 in May. Baghdad was the most violent with 228
attacks, followed by 102 in Anbar, 90 in Salahaddin, 64 in Ninewa, 33 in
Diyala, 28 in Kirkuk, 17 in Babil, 4 in Kurdistan, 3 in Basra, 2 in Karbala and
1 each in Qadisiyah ad Wasit.

Those attacks resulted in 1,291 killed and 1,647 wounded.
The dead consisted of 27 Sahwa, 53 Hashd, 56 Peshmerga, 162 members of the
Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 169 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK), and 824 civilians. The injured were made up of 1 Asayesh, 16 Sahwa, 59
Hashd, 167 Peshmerga, 176 ISF, and 1,228 civilians.

Ninewa was the deadliest province of the month with 319
killed. That was due to a huge number of people being executed by the Islamic
State mostly in Mosul. 89 people were killed the first week of the month, 96
the next week, 45 the third week, 18 the fourth, and 34 the last two days of
September for a total of 282 fatalities. Another 18 Peshmerga were killed and
14 wounded by IS attacks upon their positions in the north of the governorate.

Baghdad had 296 dead and 850 wounded. There were 7 car bombs
there during the month, along with 6 more that were dismantled before they
detonated. The main causes of casualties however were the 97 IEDs and 29 sticky
bombs. Most of these were in the south with 65 incidents, 61 in the east, and
51 in the north. The west, 28, and center, 17, had the least violence during
the month. IS has bases in the rural areas of the Baghdad governorate, and also
funnels in men and explosives from Babil, Salahaddin and Diyala. Surprisingly,
Anbar does not appear to be a major source of attacks into the capital, probably
because IS is too busy conquering territory there.

There were a reported 182 deaths and 224 injured in Anbar.
Those numbers are only a fraction of the losses there. Since the government
offensive began there reports of ISF shelling of Fallujah has been suppressed
along with most of the losses amongst the joint forces. The real numbers may
never be revealed.

Turkey continued with its air strikes into northern
Kurdistan to punish the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Ankara claimed it
killed 169 PKK fighters in four waves of bomb runs. There was no way to confirm
those numbers.

Most of the attacks in Salahaddin centered around Baiji
where the government continued its attempt to retake the Baiji district along
with its refinery. IS launched a huge number of suicide bombers, 16, and car
bombs, 35, during the month, most of which were in Baiji. Losses were sometimes
reported there, but like in Anbar most were not. There was an air
strike in the district that killed 68 civilians and wounded 58. The U.S.
did not announce any activity in that area so it was probably an Iraqi army
attack. In total, there were 167 deaths and 214 injures in Salahaddin.

The Kurds launched a new series of attacks to clear out part
of Daquq district in southern Kirkuk last month. Irbil did report some of its
casualties with 38 Peshmerga killed and 153 wounded. That accounted for the
high overall number of dead 72 and wounded 165 in Kirkuk, which usually only
sees sporadic violence.

Diyala continued to experience a low level of violence. Most
weeks there are a number of shootings and small bombings mostly in the western
and central part of the province. There were also three car bombings, and one
that went off while police were trying to disarm it. All together those led to
67 dead and 86 wounded for the month.

Irbil confirmed that the authorities are suppressing most of
their losses. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) issued a press release
that 1,300 Peshmerga were killed and 5,000 wounded in fighting against the
insurgents since August 2014. Those were obviously just rough numbers and not
the actual totals. Compared to what was already reported in the press the KRG
admitted that it had not mentioned 314 deaths and 3,003 wounded in the last 13
months.

Finally, the Islamic State’s latest car bomb campaign
continued into September. There were a total of 155 vehicle borne improvised
explosive devices (VBIEDs) launched during the month. That was below August’s
whopping 324 VBIEDs. The vast majority, 131, were destroyed before reaching
their targets because most were targeting the security forces or Hashd and taken
out by air strikes, anti-tank missiles or some other counter measure. Anbar had
the most car bombs with 95, followed by 35 in Salahaddin, 13 in Baghdad, 7 in
Diyala, 4 in Kirkuk, and one in Karbala. The last was significant because it
showed that IS was again interested in trying to bomb the south after a hiatus.
Luckily these attempts have been discovered beforehand and the VBIEDs were
dismantled.

IRAQ HISTORY TIMELINE

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com